Etymology

knead

K5N1E1A1D2

Today it means: To work and press into a mass, usually with the hands; especially, to work, as by repeated pressure with the knuckles, into a well mixed mass, the materials of bread, cake, etc. Full definition →

Middle English kneden ← Old English cnedan ← Proto-West Germanic *knedan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gnet-“to press together”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*knudaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*knedan
  4. Old English · inherited fromcnedan
  5. Middle English · inherited fromkneden
  6. English todayknead

From Middle English kneden, from Old English cnedan, from Proto-West Germanic *knedan, from Proto-Germanic *knudaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gnet- (“to press together”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*gnet- all →

nibble

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.